Catlett v. U.S., 86-208.

Decision Date27 June 1988
Docket NumberNo. 86-295.,No. 86-393.,No. 86-505.,No. 86-392.,No. 86-421.,No. 86-315.,No. 86-208.,86-208.,86-295.,86-315.,86-392.,86-393.,86-421.,86-505.
Citation545 A.2d 1202
PartiesTimothy CATLETT (No. 86-208), Steven L. Webb (No. 86-295), Christopher D. Turner (No. 86-315), Levy Rouse (No. 86-392), Kelvin D. Smith (No. 86-393), Russell L. Overton (No. 86-421), and Clifton E. Yarborough (No. 86-505), Appellants, v. UNITED STATES, Appellee.
CourtD.C. Court of Appeals

Frederick J. Sullivan, Bowie, Md., appointed by the court, for appellant Catlett.

Steven R. Kiersh, appointed by the court, with whom Karen L. Hochstein, Washington, D.C., was on the brief, for appellant Webb.

G. Godwin Oyewole, Alexandria, Va., appointed by the court, for appellant Turner.

Lillian A. McEwen, Washington, D.C., appointed by the court, for appellant Rouse.

Greta C. Van Susteren, Washington, D.C., appointed by the court, for appellant Smith.

Allan M. Palmer, Washington, D.C., appointed by the court, for appellant Overton.

Wendell C. Robinson, Washington, D.C., appointed by the court, for appellant Yarborough.

Jody Goodman, Asst. U.S. Atty., with whom Joseph E. diGenova, U.S. Atty. at the time the brief was filed, Michael W. Farrell, Helen M. Bollwerk, and Jerry M. Goren, Asst. U.S. Attys., were on the brief, for appellee.

Before PRYOR, Chief Judge, and FERREN and BELSON, Associate Judges.

PRYOR, Chief Judge:

These seven appellants were charged with kidnaping (D.C.Code § 22-2101 (1981)), armed robbery (D.C.Code §§ 22-2901 (1981), -3202 (1987 Supp.)), and two counts of first-degree murder while armed, felony murder (D.C.Code §§ 22-2401, -3202 (1987 Supp.)). Appellants were convicted by a jury, and appeal, citing numerous grounds as error. Finding none of their contentions persuasive, we accept the jury's verdicts but remand for resentencing consistent with this opinion.

These consolidated appeals arise from the kidnaping and brutal murder of Catherine Fuller on October 1, 1984. Mrs. Fuller, who lived only a few blocks from where the murder occurred, left home about 4:15 p.m. to go to the store. She placed the fifty dollars her husband had given her to make her purchases in a change purse, secreted in her inner garments. When David Fuller last saw his wife, she was wearing two gold chains around her neck, four rings on her left hand, and curlers in her hair. It was a rainy afternoon and she wore a raincoat and carried an umbrella.

At 4:00 p.m., at a park on the southeast corner of Eighth and H Streets, Northeast, a group of young men, including appellants Timothy Catlett, Russell Overton, Levy Rouse, Kelvin Smith, Christopher Turner, Steven Webb and Clifton Yarborough, along with Harry Bennett and Calvin Alston, gathered near a shelter.1 About the time Catherine Fuller was approaching the intersection at Eighth and H, Overton and Rouse were talking about "getting paid," a street term for robbery. Calvin Alston suggested robbing someone getting off a bus, but Rouse rejected this idea complaining that a bus passenger would be unlikely to carry enough money to distribute among the group. Alston's attention was drawn to Mrs. Fuller. He proposed that she be the robbery target, and appellants agreed. As Mrs. Fuller turned from H Street onto Eighth Street and approached the entrance to an alley that ran parallel to H Street, appellants divided into two groups; one group followed her, while the other moved to the Ninth Street entrance to the alley.

Mrs. Fuller was forced into the alley where Rouse, Alston, Bennett, Turner, and Smith punched arid kicked her. Rouse struck Mrs. Fuller over the head with a wooden plank and she dropped to the ground. She was carried to a spot farther into the alley and placed in front of a garage where her ordeal continued, with Catlett, Overton, Smith, Turner, Webb, and Yarborough beating her while she screamed for help and struggled to get free.2 During the course of this second stage of the beating, Mrs. Fuller's change purse was taken from her underclothes and Catlett and Yarborough struggled over it, the contents emptying onto the ground.

By this time, Mrs. Fuller had stopped struggling, and Rouse and Overton dragged her across the ground into the garage. Rouse removed a ring from her finger and gave it to a bystander. Mrs. Fuller's clothing was removed and while two people held her legs Rouse inserted a pipe eleven inches into her rectum.3 The group departed, and Mrs. Fuller was abandoned in the garage where she died sometime before 6:00 p.m. Her severely injured, partially clad body was discovered by a street vendor in the garage next to the doorway, hidden from the view of anyone outside the garage. A medical examination revealed that she died of multiple blunt force injuries, a combination of the beatings and the insertion of the pipe.

I

Appellant Yarborough contends that the trial court should have granted his motion to suppress his videotaped statement because his age, education, and experience with the criminal justice system were not considered by the trial court in its determination of whether he had voluntarily waived his Miranda rights.4

During the hearing on his motion to suppress this statement, the government's evidence established that on December 9, 1984, Yarborough was arrested at his home and transported to the homicide office where he was read his Miranda rights, and given a card explaining those rights to read to himself. Acknowledging that he understood his rights, he wrote "yes" next to each waiver question, and signed the card. Appellant spoke with the detective for approximately forty-five minutes before being moved to another location within the police station. Unhandcuffed, he described the events of October 1, 1984, but did not admit his involvement. When he agreed to videotape his statement, his Miranda rights were reread to him, and his previously signed card was again shown to him. Yarborough then allowed the police to videotape his statement, which set forth his version of the events surrounding Mrs. Fuller's death.

At the suppression hearing, appellant's sole contention was that he had been physically and mentally coerced into making the statement. In an effort to demonstrate physical abuse, he submitted hospital records indicating treatment for a knee injury, and called a detective to the stand who, however, testified that he had neither threatened nor physically abused appellant at any time during the questioning.5 Appellant did not testify, nor did he present evidence regarding his education or experience with the legal system.6 The court denied the motion, noting that appellant's claims of physical and mental coercion were unsubstantiated by the evidence, and that the circumstances surrounding his statement demonstrated that the waiver was knowing and voluntary.

Appellant correctly observes that in this jurisdiction special protections have been afforded to juveniles in determining the voluntariness of a statement or confession. See In re D.A.S., 391 A.2d 255, 258 (D.C. 1978). The reason becomes clear when the juvenile system, as compared to the adult criminal system, is analyzed.

The juvenile justice system is based upon a theory of "parens patriae," with the goal being to assist and rehabilitate the child rather than to punish him. Historically, this paternal orientation led to the absence of many procedural rights accorded adults. The Supreme Court, in In re Gault, 387 U.S. 1, 87 S.Ct. 1428, 18 L.Ed.2d 527 (1967), recognized these deficiencies and extended a minimum of rights to juveniles charged with delinquent behavior, including the rights to confrontation and cross-examination, as well as the privilege against self-incrimination. Id. at 34-57, 87 S.Ct. at 1447-59. However, substantial differences remain between the adult and juvenile systems. Among other things, juveniles are not entitled to a grand jury proceeding, jury trial, or bail.

In 1970, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Court Reorganization Act, substantially altering Juvenile Court practice. This Act partly amended § 16-2301 of the D.C. Code, changing the definition of "child" and thereby altering the scope of Family Division jurisdiction. See Pendergrast v. United States, 332 A.2d 919, 923 (D.C. 1975).7 In cases governed by this section of the Code, once the United States Attorney charges an individual with one of the enumerated crimes, the individual is properly presented to the Criminal Division, and from that juncture, Family Division jurisdiction is terminated. See In re C.S., 384 A.2d 407, 411 (D.C. 1977).8

Transfer of a juvenile to criminal court is permitted as well by D.C.Code § 16-2307 (1981), when an individual fifteen years of age or older is alleged to have committed a crime which would constitute a felony if committed by an adult. This section requires "a judicial determination of suitability for adult treatment, whereas § 16-2301(3)(A) is an effective legislative determination of such suitability." Id. In either instance, the Family Division relinquishes jurisdiction. Id. Thus, when an individual, as here, is presented to the Criminal Division of the court, pursuant to the charging discretion allowed the prosecutor by statute, the court does not act in a "parens patriae" role as in the Family Division, but correspondingly, the accused receives the full panoply of protections available in adult court.

In both juvenile and criminal court, whenever the voluntariness of a waiver of Miranda rights is called into question, the government must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the confession or statement is voluntary. Rogers v. United States, 483 A.2d 277, 286 (D.C. 1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S. 1227, 105 S.Ct. 1223, 84 L.Ed.2d 363 (1985) (citing Lego v. Twomey, 404 U.S. 477, 489, 92 S.Ct. 619, 626, 30 L.Ed.2d 618 (1972)). The trial court's conclusion that a statement was voluntary will be upheld when it is...

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